The Rossville Public Library is the state’s first guinea pig — and proud of it — to test the use of new state-of-the-art computers in place of traditional Windows PCs to provide internet access for its patrons.

Thanks to a Georgia Public Library Service grant, 20 new Samsung Chromeboxes were installed at the Rossville library, replacing badly outdated desktop computers that library goers have long been familiar with.

[Clip]

As operating costs have risen, [Cherokee Regional Library System director Lecia] Eubanks has been forced to cut library hours — not once but twice in the past two years — which has reduced public access to online services.

Furthermore, Eubanks last year made the difficult decision to suspend the library system’s technical services department — already struggling to keep outdated and overworked computers working — as a cost-cutting measure. Without that life support system, those computers have been dying off, one by one, which shrinks patron access even further.

Gary Price (gprice@mediasourceinc.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. Before launching INFOdocket, Price and Shirl Kennedy were the founders and senior editors at ResourceShelf and DocuTicker for 10 years. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com, and is currently a contributing editor at Search Engine Land.